Twin Valley’s Natalie Herrick dribbles through a trio of Stratton defenders, while her teammate Kirsten Halbur works her way up the field in support. The Wildcats won a close match, 1-0, on a late goal.

Twin Valley’s girls’ soccer team dropped two out of three games over the past week, by a combined score of 10-4. With the return of midfielder Savannah Nesbitt doubtful for the rest of the year, the Wildcats have had difficulty moving to the ball and taking advantage of scoring chances.

The Wildcats’ first game was on the road against Proctor, who jumped out to an early lead, scoring three times before the 20-minute mark, and gaining an insurmountable 5-0 lead at halftime. Brodie Langloy was Proctor’s top scorer, netting two goals en route to a 6-1 rout. Jordan Niles would score Twin Valley’s only goal at the 52-minute mark.

Twin Valley tied Proctor in early September, 2-2, and coach Chris Walling attributes the loss to a lack of effort and execution of fundamentals. “It was a total lack of effort,” said Walling. “I keep telling the kids, one person does not make up a five-goal difference. This is clearly a team we can play with, but we showed up and we just didn’t mark up.”

Things would briefly start looking up for Twin Valley, hosting Stratton at home on homecoming weekend, and coming away with a hard-fought 1-0 victory. The difference maker would be the Wildcats’ energy level. Twin Valley proved they could be competitive, keeping Stratton scoreless in the first half, and keeping the game tied at zero.

In the second half, Twin Valley had chances to score, including a penalty kick by Abbi Molner that sailed high. The Wildcats’ energy and competitive edge would pay off with seven minutes left to play. Niles corralled a loft pass from Molner in the midfield, and took a shot. Stratton’s keeper blocked it by the far post, but Miranda Post was waiting to tap it in for her first career goal.

Columbus Day would be anything but a holiday for the Wildcats with a trip to Black River that ended with a 4-2 loss. Walling said this was another team his girls could have beaten but instead they dug themselves into a hole early.

Black River scored twice by the 15-minute mark leaving Twin Valley the rest of the game to chase them. A spark would come briefly in the first half when Niles ran down a diagonal pass and after a couple of touches, lifted a shot over the keeper’s head. Walling hoped this goal would energize his team going into the second half, but an own goal by Twin Valley off a Black River corner kick instead iced the Wildcats.

Black River would score again only four minutes into the second half for a 4-1 lead.

Niles would strike again with 10 minutes to play, but by then the game was out of reach, and resulted in another loss and a record of 4-4-2. Walling said it’s important that his team stop its lackluster effort in time for the playoffs. “We can keep playing lackluster, losing 50-50 balls, and not marking up, and hang around that eight or nine spot going into the tournament, or avoid that bracket area and just play good soccer.”